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Owner of auto glass companies sentenced in $1.6 million fraud case

A Burien auto glass company owner has been sentenced to jail for a billing scheme that's believed to have cost insurers more than $ 1.5 million.

Michael Alan Perkins, 44, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree theft in King County Court July 1. He was sentenced to 9 months in jail, with 30 days of the sentence converted to 240 hours of community service.

Investigators for state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler are recommending a total of more than $1.6 million in restitution to the companies. The court will decide the amount at an upcoming hearing.

Perkins is the owner of Autoglass Express Inc. and Premier Auto Glass, LLC., both run out of Perkins' Burien home. The glass shops overbilled insurers, including State Farm, Allstate and MetLife insurance companies.

An investigation by Kreidler's office's anti-fraud Special Investigations Unit, which spent months combing through more than 10,000 records, found more than $1.5 million in deceptive billing by Perkins' companies between September 2005 and December 2009. Read the full release.